Despite shoulder sprain, Tom Brady expects to play on Sunday

Wednesday

Oct 11, 2017 at 7:18 PMOct 11, 2017 at 7:19 PM

Once again, Brady is bumped and bruised. He reportedly suffered a sprained AC joint in his left (non-throwing) shoulder two weeks ago against Carolina and re-aggravated the injury last week in Tampa Bay after falling on the shoulder following a first-quarter sack.

By Mark Daniels / @MarkDanielsPJ

FOXBORO — Tom Brady is no stranger to appearing on the injury report.

In the NFL, injuries happen every week. The quarterback, however, is a stranger when it comes to missing games.

Once again, Brady is bumped and bruised. He reportedly suffered a sprained AC joint in his left (non-throwing) shoulder two weeks ago against Carolina. He re-aggravated the injury last week in Tampa Bay after falling on the shoulder following a first-quarter sack.

Despite the pain, Brady threw for over 300 yards and completed over 70 percent of his passes in both games. Despite missing two practices to start this week, on Tuesday and Wednesday, Brady is expected to suit up Sunday against the New York Jets.

“I’m good. Not worried about it,” Brady said on Wednesday.

Brady’s durability has long been talked about. This summer, his birthday on Aug. 3, was a spectacle. There various reminders around the practice field that he had turned 40. Even his own teammates gave him a cake that, instead of his age on it, just said one word — old.

Sure, everyone knows about Brady’s special diet and love for drinking copious amounts of water, but along with his longevity comes a special level of toughness. In his 18-year career, Brady has only missed games due to injury in 2008 (torn ACL).

“Yeah, Tom’s as physically and mentally tough as any player I’ve coached,” Bill Belichick said. “No doubt about that.”

The left shoulder injury is another example. After suffering the injury, on Oct. 1, Brady still threw for 307 yards and two scores against Carolina. Last week, after hurting it again, he finished the game with 303 yards and a touchdown.

“I think everybody does [play through pain],” Brady said. “There’s a lot of bumps and bruises over the course of a year. I’m not concerned.”

Playing with injury is nothing new for any NFL player. Playing with a shoulder injury also isn’t new for Brady. In 2011, he suffered the same injury — a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder — in Week 16 against Miami. He was listed as probable for three straight weeks after that.

The week after the injury, he threw for 338 yards and three touchdowns against Buffalo. Brady dealt with the shoulder ailment for two practice weeks in the playoffs. He threw for 363 yards and six touchdowns against Denver in the divisional round before struggling against Baltimore (239 yards, no scores) in the team’s AFC Championship Game win.

After suffering a separated shoulder at the end of the 2002 season, Brady was seen on the injury report for his right shoulder every season from 2003 to 2010. He also popped up on the practice report with a right shoulder injury in 2012 and 2013.

Since 2010, Brady has also played through multiple ankle injuries, along with ailments to his knee, thigh, shoulder, calf, and left shoulder.

Despite it all, he’s constantly out there on Sunday’s.

“He doesn’t want to take a play off,” Danny Amendola said. “You can see him on the sideline in the preseason games doing his band work and stuff like that. He’s constantly working, constantly grinding.”

Last season, the quarterback spent four weeks on the injury report. He was limited in two weeks with a knee injury and then two weeks with a thigh injury. He might have missed a few practices, but never missed a beat.

Following the knee injury, Brady threw a combined 555 yards and three touchdowns against the Jets and Los Angeles Rams. After the thigh injury, he threw for a combined 490 yards and six touchdowns against the Jets and Miami Dolphins. Last year, in Week 12, Brady missed two practices due to the knee injury leading up to the Jets game. He practiced once that week, on Friday, and then led the Patriots to a 22-17 win.

The truth is that Brady is rarely concerned about an injury. Asked on Wednesday if there’s ever a worry when he needs an MRI, like he did recently with his shoulder, Brady smiled.

“Not for me,” Brady said. “I’ll be there Sunday.”

He always is.

Mark Daniels writes for the Providence Journal of GateHouse Media.

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